This strike was meant to rip out He Lingchuan's heart entirely.
Once this General Commander was dead, Yuheng City would be far easier to deal with.
He Lingchuan didn't have eyes in the back of his head, yet his left wrist flicked up. His short blade slashed upward from below and outside-in, precisely aimed straight for Fu Shanlie's left arm—almost as if Fu Shanlie had offered it up willingly.
If Fu Shanlie didn't pull back his wrist, his hand would be chopped off before he could claw out He Lingchuan's heart.
He had no choice but to twist his left wrist, grabbing the spine of the blade first.
Yet did this youth truly believe that restraining both his hands rendered him harmless?
Fu Shanlie sneered inwardly, snapping his jaws open to bite straight into He Lingchuan's neck!
He was a ba; beyond the sharp claws on both hands, his deadliest weapons included a maw full of fangs!
The moment his prey's essence blood and true qi were drained, the victim would be incapacitated within a few breaths.
Yet before his fangs could pierce his prey's skin, a sudden chill gripped his back.
An enemy was attacking from behind, practically inches away!
So fast—faster even than him.
The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind?
He immediately released his left hand and darted aside. His reaction could not have been swifter; his body even blurred into a phantom silhouette, on the verge of dissolving into flowing water.
Fu Shanlie acted with even greater decisiveness than He Lingchuan had anticipated. The instant he sensed danger, he pulled back and fled without lingering for glory.
Behind him, another "He Lingchuan" materialized, wielding Fusheng and cleaving diagonally toward his spine!
A courteous exchange.
Fu Shanlie was as slippery as an eel. To defeat him quickly underwater, the only way was to use oneself as bait.
As long as the bait was big enough, no fish could resist taking a bite.
The Wave Cleaving method executed by He Lingchuan's clone was defined by its utter calm. The blade cut down in harmony with the grain of the water's currents, revealing not a shred of killing intent.
Under such harsh underwater conditions filled with endless distractions, that Fu Shanlie could still detect the anomaly showed just how formidable his spiritual senses were.
Yet he was still a step too slow—just a tiny step.
When the clone's blade came down, it met the solid, unmistakable resistance of slicing flesh and bone.
Fu Shanlie did succeed in turning into water, but an arm severed by the blade fell away amid a bloom of red.
A direct hit.
Whether through immaculate timing or the activation of Fusheng's trait to sever formless and bodiless entities, Fu Shanlie paid the price of an arm to escape from beneath the blade.
He Lingchuan turned, grabbed the severed arm, and stowed it instantly into his storage ring.
His coordination with his clone was seamless; even if Fu Shanlie wanted to snatch it back, it was too late.
Both combatants had drawn blood.
That small stream of clear water circled around, stained crimson by its own blood. Just as it prepared to strike back, a strange object plunged into the river with a buzzing whine.
The water it churned up was so murky that even when He Lingchuan focused his vision fully, he only managed to see a rapidly spinning... wheel throwing off countless bubbles?
Its underwater speed was absurdly fast. In merely three or four breaths, it cut down four water demons, including the giant crocodile that had ambushed He Lingchuan earlier.
The demon hides that even the spears and arrows of the Yuheng City Army struggled to pierce were thinner than paper before this sudden wheel.
Whose magic artifact was this formidable? Specialized in slaying water demons, and apparently on their side?
He Lingchuan knew his subordinates' abilities like the back of his hand, and within a blink, he surmised that this newly revealed deadly weapon had likely been unleashed by Lu Xun and his companions.
In the blink of an eye, the flying wheel darted off in pursuit of a golden ferocious fish.
While the previous water demons had been chopped in two before they could react, this ferocious fish was astonishingly swift. It fled ahead as the wheel gave relentless chase behind, both carving afterimages through the water.
This kind of fish was known simply as the ferocious fish, or called "yabala" by the locals of Longchuan. Its maw bristled with protruding, interlocking spikes, and its body exceeded four feet in length. Though not enormous in size, it swam at blinding speed and hunted in packs, driving even crocodiles and pythons into retreat.
These large specimens had lived in Jintao for over two centuries, riding the floodwaters into Longchuan, where they had thrived in comfort. Who would have guessed that the moment they followed Fu Shanlie out to plunder, they would cross paths with such a reaper?
The wheel surged with extra force, shifting speed twice, and cut down two of the ferocious fish.
Seeing things take a turn for the worse, the water demons turned tail and fled, terrified of drawing its attention.
As the flying wheel pursued the pack leader of the ferocious fish, it happened to pass the giant shark He Lingchuan had ridden earlier. Perhaps taking a fancy to bigger prey, it abruptly swerved.
With a wet screech, flesh and bone were sheared apart. Compared to the wheel, the giant shark was as slow as an old crone. It had barely turned its head, before it could even accelerate, and its head was parted from its body.
The blood was as thick as ink. The flying wheel lingered for two breaths, as if wanting to drink its fill, before picking its next target at random.
Wounded, Fu Shanlie didn't dare show himself before it. One glance showed that this contraption was terrible to deal with, to say nothing of He Lingchuan hovering nearby, blade in hand, waiting for payback.
Having waited so long for an ambush opportunity, was he supposed to let it end like this?
While he hesitated, He Lingchuan flung his long blade straight toward him.
He dodged left and right, yet Fusheng pursued him relentlessly through the water.
Sure Strike trait, activated.
He Lingchuan seized the chance to surface, drawing a long breath.
*Phew.* Never had air felt so fresh.
Shouts from the guards drifted from the shore: "The General Commander is over here!"
The iron-armored bronze automaton controlled by Hu Min came striding toward him.
He Lingchuan had no need for its help; raising his hand, he tossed a small cloth bundle onto the bank.
Then he felt a sudden resonance:
The Fusheng Saber was coming straight for him.
The treasured blade was tailing Fu Shanlie, which meant the great demon was coming after him once more.
Despite his heavy wounds, Fu Shanlie's will to fight remained fierce.
He Lingchuan felt a twinge of regret. Had he known Fusheng's Sure Strike could be used to track Fu Shanlie, he wouldn't have been harassed to his wits' end by the demon's water evasion strikes down below.
Still, he held no advantage fighting in the water, and he had no desire to be tangled up with Fu Shanlie again.
Before his foe could reach him, he vanished from the water.
A tiny cicada slough floated atop the surface.
"General Commander!" The guards rushed over, finding He Lingchuan standing on the bank, drenched from head to toe, the fabric of his right shoulder stained crimson with blood. Yet his brows didn't even furrow, as though he felt no pain, his gaze fixed straight on the river's surface.
Moments later, the Fusheng Saber breached the water, whistling as it returned to its master's grasp.
A trace of crimson clung to the edge of the blade, dripping onto the ground an instant later.
It had struck its mark, though he couldn't tell where Fu Shanlie had been wounded.
Amid the churning, yellow torrents, Fu Shanlie also poked his head out, locking eyes with He Lingchuan.
One human and one demon, one on shore and one in the water, exchanged a venomous glare, as though engraving each other's features into their minds.
Across Fu Shanlie's forehead was an added gash, dripping with fresh blood, though it was merely a surface wound.
He Lingchuan pointed the tip of his saber at him. "Heal up well. The day I sacrifice you to my blade isn't far off!"
Missing an arm, Fu Shanlie bled ceaselessly. He rasped darkly, "Congratulations! You have successfully bought utter destruction for everyone in Yuheng City!"
In merely two fleeting moments, before Willow could even loose an arrow, Fu Shanlie vanished back into the water.
Chapter 878